t insubordination.These examples of political soma use all come down to the same underlying fact, the total and absolute control of the government. Technology in this world is so finely tuned and available to the government, that it is constantly abused. The use of cloning, mass production, psychological conditioning, and especially soma are all examples of the abuse of technology by the government.Soma has become one of the governments main weapons for control. They have conditioned the population to regularly use soma and most even come to depend on it. They gain control from this because the government has control over the supply and distribution of this drug. The government also uses soma as their safety net. As the world controller Mustapha Mond said, And if anything should go wrong, theres soma. (226) Not only was soma used to subdue the crowd during the riot, but it was also used to quiet down a threatening individual. The Savage, as an outsider, could see the absurdity of this world and questioned its teachings and methods in a meeting with Mond. His thinking was the beginning of individuality and creativity, two qualities looked down upon in this brave new world. This thinking was obviously seen as a threat to the stability of civilized society because the Savage was secretly given soma in order to stop the questioning.Along with the political use of soma there is also a large recreational use. Many people simply use soma to escape reality. When things start to get tough, just pop a tablet of soma and take a holiday. After all as the conditioning statement goes, a gramme is better than a damn. (117) A major example of this occurs when Lenina and Bernard Marx go to visit the savage reservation for a weekend. After seeing the savages rituals Lenina is disturbed and feels she needs a holiday. When she returns to her room she takes about six tablets of soma and takes off on her soma holiday. The recreational use of s...
